A woman living in Madrid has become the first case in Spain to contract the Zika virus through sexual transmission, according to an El Mundo report (computer translated).

Image/onestopmap
Image/onestopmap

The woman is believed to have contracted the virus in early May, when her husband returned from a trip he had made weeks before to a Latin American country.

Sources from the the Community of Madrid and the Ministry of Health confirmed that a few days after the man returned from his trip, he was confirmed Zika positive by a laboratory at the Institute of Health Carlos III. He was treated at a Madrid hospital.

She was diagnosed weeks later after showing symptoms. She was not pregnant.

Spain has reported 158 travel associated Zika virus cases through the end of June, in which 21 were in pregnant women. Two cases of birth defects have also been reported.

Spain becomes the 11th country to record a sexually transmitted case of Zika virus.

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